Description:
Students look at real-time satellite, radar, and derived imagery to study the growth and development of thunderstorms. They locate daily thunderstorm activity, then compare satellite images with radar images to determine areas of precipitation, and their relationships to thunderstorm development. They explain the energy transfer occurring during the formation, maturation, and dissipation of a thunderstorm. As an extension, students calculate the growth of a thunderstorm over time to determine the rapid transfer of energy from the surface of the earth upward into the cumulonimbus cloud.

This investigation is under development. To participate in pilot testing, go to the website for NASA Goddard Earth and Space Science Education Project (GESSEP): http://education.gsfc.nasa.gov/experimental/July61999siteupdate/inv99Project.Site/invhome.html and click on "To Pilot Investigations."

Organization:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

URL:
http://education.gsfc.nasa.gov/experimental/all98invProject.Site/Pages/kaboom.abstract.html

Contact:
Authors: Elizabeth McCook, with Greg Helms, Connie Lenhart, Nancy Carey and the GESSEP 1998 teachers.

Science Advisor: Dr. Alan K. Nelson

GESSEP Program Principal Investigator: Steve Gilligan
Email: charles1@mail.ameritel.net

GESSEP Program Co-Investigator: Vern Smith
Email: vern@aesp.nasa.okstate.edu

Cost:
Free over the Internet

Education Level:
Grades 9-12

Subject:
Energy
Meteorology
Thunderstorms
Weather

Resource Type:
Internet Site
Curriculum/Instructional Materials
 
 

Date Added to teachearth.com:
5/1/00